The Sibelius violin concerto opens with the most magical, naturally expressive of themes, given to the soloist almost immediately, like the beginning of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, a work Sibelius played as a student.
The cadenza in the first movement serves basically as the movement’s development section.
After the bristling tensions and dark energy of the first movement, the slow movement comes as a gift of grace, a moment of timelessness in an otherwise very time-conscious piece. The stark main theme is another wondrous inspiration – “mercilessly beautiful,” in the poet Lassi Nummi’s ecstatic vision of the concerto – and this movement was the one Sibelius had the least doubt about, leaving it largely untouched during his ruthless purge of all nonessentials in revision.
With the finale we are emphatically back in the flow of time, with an unrelenting forward motion. It is obsessive and driven, yes, but also brilliant and exciting, orchestra and soloist seeming to jostle each other for control of this speeding rocket.
Here is violinist Christian Ferras to play this music for you:
